Samantha Jade would love to collaborate with Ed Sheeran!

In April this year, Samantha Jade released her third album, Best Of My Love – a tribute to the strong women of the disco era. The Perth-born singer swerved away from her usual pop sound and released an homage to the 1970’s, which contains covers of Cher, Donna Summer and Diana Ross as well as two disco-inspired originals. “I knew I wanted to do something light and fun,” the 31-year-old tells WHO.

While The X Factor winner hasn’t began to think about her next music project just yet, she does know that she’d love to collaborate with British singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran. “He’s my dream person,” she says. “He’s the best songwriter, I think, of our generation.”

Jade reveals that Sheeran’s last album, ÷ (read as divide), which was released in early 2017, had a lasting impact on her. “He seems so nice and that last album, I listened to that… I mean I still do, but I listened to that every day, the whole record, every song,” she says. “It’s so rare that you don’t have to skip a song. I would just be a fly on the wall and see how he writes. I just would love to watch.”

While the dream collab will hopefully happen for Jade in the future, she would also like to return to acting. Jade made her acting debut in the INXS: Never Tear Us Apart mini-series in 2014, where she portrayed Kylie Minogue. This performance led Jade to a Logie nomination for “Most Popular New Talent”. In 2016, Jade starred in Home and Away as Isla Schultz.

“I love acting,” she says. “When I did my [first] album, I was on Home and Away and I was like I’m never doing that again because it was too much. I was getting up at 4am to drive to Palm Beach and then coming back and going to the studio and finishing records and it was insane.”

While Jade spread herself too thin during this time, it definitely taught her when to say no to certain projects. “I feel like I wasn’t able to give my 100 percent to one project and so I learnt from that experience,” she says. “I feel like once I’m finished with this record, I can commit to an acting project but I’ve had to say no to a few things.”

Alexandra McCarthyHaving previously worked at TV Week and I Quit Sugar, Alexandra’s interests range from bizarre health trends (hello, blue algae lattes!) to the latest Netflix series. When she’s not writing or in a deep Netflix binge, you’ll find her walking her two dogs, reading a book or enjoying a G&T with friends.